Mowing-machine.



. Pgtentd'Fcb. II, 1902. A. von LO'EPER, ezaomau MUI-ILENBZECK.

MDWING MACHINE.

(Application filed 0a. so, 1899.)

(no model.) zsmu-snm 2.

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we annals wzrsns to, Puma-mm" WASHINuTDN n c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANNA voN LOEPER, (GEBOREN MUHLENBEGKJ or RosTocK, GERMANY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 993, 87, dated February 11, 1902.

Application filed October so, 1899. Serial No. 735,273. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANNA VoN LOEPER, (-ne MiiHLENBEOK,) gentlewoman, of 51 Paulstrasse, Rostock, Mecklenbnrg, in the Empire 5 of Germany, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Mowing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a mowing-machine which is designed to be chiefly used for cutout grain is conveyed by a rotary rake device in the first place onto the table combined with the machine and thence laid away by 'a rake which is independent of the former.

be used for mowing grass after slight alterations in the laying device. 5 Figure 1 shows a transverse section of the machine through the main'drivingi'device, the' carriage being represented in elevation: .Fig. 2 shows a'plan of the machine, 't'he'ltable be; ingremoved. FigfiS'is aside elevation lookin g toward thecutting'and raking apparatus. Fig. l'showsa'section ofaeonstructionalform of device for ffasteningthe cutters or knives. Fig."5is"a plan ofi acntter or knife. Fig. 6

is a 'plan, fnllsize, showing 'part. of a cutter or knife with the protecting device belonging.

thereto; and Fig. '7 is a"transverse section. i

tus nse is made of a carriage drawn by horses in the Well-known manner, and which con si'stsi'of the 'axle mthewh'eels b b, the'shaft 'o'of appropriate length, and thedriv'ers seat 5"c.' The shaft-is arranged laterally ingthe known manner in order" to have theidraf't far as -prazcticable to power of 'the'machine'as ward the center f v "With thexa'xle d is connected the rigid frame "01 of themachin'e, which immediately behind the wheel'b' extends far-downward. (SeeFig.

ting grain and which is so arranged th'at'the The improved machine may of'course also For moving the cntting-andraking appara 1 To the lateral arm "01 "of the "frame is joined perpendicularly to' the. same a strong i arm e, which may, if necessary, be supported =by a stay-6." The free end of? the arm. '6 is:

made in the fornii'of'a two-part bearing f,

which embraces the;- h'ollow shaft. g. *(See Fig. 1.) At its lowerend'theshaft g carries the=cutteror knife headh, made in the form of i a bevel-wheel and" set 'in' rotation in the manner hereinafter de'scri'be'dii The 1 upper end bf the am is provided with the forkshaped rake-holders t', to which the several arms K of the main rake are attached. The hollow shaft g rotates upon a solid shaft Z, which. is fork-shaped at its lower end and carries a roller Z, While the upper end is furnished with a thick sliding ring Z in order to maintain the shaft in its position. It is evident that the roller Z serves for completely balancing the machine, for which purpose a second roller 1 is also provided at the crossing-point of the arms e and d,,Fig. 3.

The knife-head h, in which the cutters or knives h and their protecting devices are fastened, rotatesgbelow. a "plate K, serving as a table, and which b arsv nponthearmeand also upon the armd, which plate maybe fixed laterally on the side turned toward, the wheel I) to an arm m, which will hereinafter be; more particnlarlyflesclibedgz ,..A.t the sa e time the stayel may be so arranged thati-t willlike i serve foixsnpportingthe. table or-plate K31 The operationof the kEifG-shGfiQtfikGS place in thefollowing manner: It has already been 7 5 observed that the ,knifediead is at thesaine 9 time made in the fomnof a bevel-wheel and is adapted to engage with, abevel-wheelrt, carried upon, the horizontal.shafth.v 1011- the one hand,the,shattnj isheld izn a b'earingm 8o sitnatedubelow the table, and on the-ether s handissupported in the. free ,end of =,the-b eforermentioned, arm m, which issnspended from the. square jendrof the carriagaaxle a. ThewheeLb-is madeinone piece withthe main drivingwheel-Q, Whichlatter actuates the. intermediate wheeloflin order ;to.-dri.ve,-a

third wheelo on the Shaft 41... It willeasily'be seen thatbylthismeans in. thevrforiward movement of the, main carriage theknife-head-ro- 9o tatesfinxthe direction .indicated-,.by an arrow 0;;

in Fig.2, it being understood that the wheels vided at the rear of the first and receives a somewhat-greater rotary velocity than this first rake.

The rake possesses a suitable number of rake-arms 19, secured upon a common shaft 13', the latter being held in a bearing 19 which may be attached to the arm 01' of the frame of the machine. This rake is actuated by a bevel-whee] q, fixed upon the shaft 1) and gearing with a similar wheel q, whose shaft g is held in a casing 1", which may likewise be fixed to the arm d. The shaft (1 carries a sprocket-wheel 1-, which is driven by means of the chain 1' and the sprocket-wheel r upon the shaft a. (See Figs. 2 and 3.)

It has already been mentioned that the scythe-shaped knives h are fixed, together with the protecting device, in the knife-head h. In Figs. 4: and 5 this mode of fastening is represented to a somewhat-enlarged scale as compared with the other illustrations, and it will be seen that the ends of the knives h are slid into recesses 8 (see Fig. 3) of the knifehead and are fixed with the aid of suitable screws s. Of course the mode of fastening the knives may be varied at will, and may, for instance, also be accomplished by springs or catches adapted to be readily released. (Not shown in the drawings.) At the same time as the knives h the protecting device, hereinafter described, is also held,- the requisite distance of the same from the knives it being obtained by a suitable intermediate part 2' In order to obviate injury to the knife-edges by stones or the like lying in the field, the protecting device, hereinbefore referred to several times, is provided below each knife. In Figs. 6 and 7 this arrangement is represented full size, while at m in Fig. 2 the complete arrangement in its application to a knife is shown in plan. From these illustrations it will be seen that the protecting device assumes substantially the form of the knife. The former consists of a steel plate furnished with teeth after the manner of a comb, so that small elastic platest are formed, which lie close together. By reason of their elasticity these small thin plates 15 can easily give sidewise as soon as a rigid body comes in the way. As, however, they are broad in proportion to their thickness, (see Fig. 7,) they carry away the obstacle, inasmuch as the several teeth coming in direct contact with the obstacle give or yield laterally as long as the stability afforded by the mutual support of the teeth which come under their influence is great enough for pushing the obstacle forward. Accordingly the obstacle is carried away and thrown sidewise below the carriage. Now as the teeth 15 project a certain distance beyond the edge the latter will never come in direct contact with an obstacle, because owing to the curved arrangement of the comb-teeth along their front line there will be a certain limit to the giving or yielding of the same. For the cutting of grain this protecting device is no obstruction. On the contrary, it facilitates the requisite smooth out to a great extent in consequence of the fact that the several halms or blades slide into the intermediate spaces between the combteeth and are, as it were, held by them until the quickly following knife effects the cutting. Therefore the several halms or blades cannot yield sidewise during the cutting, but are, so to speak, taken hold of by the combteeth and held in the cutting plane. It will of course be understood that the aforesaid operation takes place very rapidly.

As after the cutting the grain would fall to the ground and might come into collision with the cutting apparatus, the several knives with a view to obviating this drawback are furnished at their surface with a plate u of appropriate length. (See Figs. 2, 5, and 7.) The plates to, however, also serve another purpose, as will hereinafter be set forth when describing the mode of operation of the machine.

The details of the machine which are in a certain and necessary relation with each other having been described, I will now proceed to set forth concisely the operation of the machine.

The carriage is moved along the side of the field to be mowed, thereby setting the wheels 6 b in rotation. The toothed wheel 0, connected with the wheel 7), causes, through the intervention of the wheels 0 and 0 and the bevel-wheel 'n, the rotary movement of the hollow shaft g, which in its turn sets the knife-head h, together with the knives 71, and the protecting device with the rake-arms K, in motion. As shown in Fig. 2, the rake-arms K are in this case so arranged that they will move a certain distance behind the cutting plane of the knives. When the cutting has been efiected, the cut halms or blades slide down onto the plate a furnished with the knife, bearing with their upper ear end against the slightly-curved rake-arms K. In the further rotation the rake-arms K convey the cut grain upon the table K, this table, as will be observed, being only about fourteen centimeters awayfrom the ground. For the purpose of facilitating the sliding onto the table above, the latter may be slightly curved at its front edge. The cut grain is now pushed forward a certain distance upon the table by the rake-arms K, the resistance which the air offers preventing the halms or blades of the grain bending forward, which halms or blades are then taken hold of at a certain point of the table by the arms .1) of the second rake apparatus and are laid away rearward. In this instance the arms 19 are so arranged that they cannot come into collision with the arms K. (See Fig. 3.) As already explained, the auxiliary rake is set in operation by the sprocket-wheel 1" on the shaft it through the medium of the chain 0' IIO - the cutting apparatus, takes place;

sprocket-wheel r, and bevel-wheel g, which latter is in gear with the bevel-wheel g on the.

rake-shaft 10.

It may be observed that all the rotary parts run in ball or roller bearings, and automatically-operating self-lubricators may be provided at every suitable point, with the object of insuring as easy a movement as practicable.

It has heretofore been assumed that horses or other draft-animals are intended to be usedfor setting the machine in operation; but it is of course quite obvious. that the carriage may also very easily beoonnecte'd with a be'nzene, gas, or other. motor, whereby the driving of the wheels, and thus the movement of.

The advantages of the improved machine lie in the facility with which obstacles in front of the knives are removed,in the cheapmanufacture of all the parts, the light weight, proper working, easy exchange, and easy grinding of the knives, and in-the absolutely; silent movement. i V

Having described my invention, .what I.. claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'-'-'-' of ;.the knife and I comb, andcomb-teeth-t, these teethiproject-,

1. Llhecombination, ,ina mowing-machine, of a knife-head h, with one or more cutters or kniveshQ-each of which is Tfurnishedrwith a protecting device consistingof an arm 21'v which carries elastic plates or teeth 15, such protect-1 and situated below its knife h, the knives and their protecting devices being fastened to the knife-head h, and rotating with it, all substan- ,3 5 Y tially as set forth.-

2. The combination, in a mowing=machine, of a knife h, with a protectin g device consis t-. ing of a part i",

constituting theback of the ing somewhatflbeyond thecutting edge of such knife and situatedunderneath same, the knife and-the protecting device moving together; aszdescribed. 1

Inwitness whereof handin presence of two witnesses;

V AN A vorftorrns, ('GEB. lllllHLEN'BECIL) Witnesses: .i I

. MARIE MiiHL NBEcK, RICHARD KIRKER.

connectedto ltheunder part mg device being carried by the knife-headh.

w v s45 Ihave hereuntoset-my 

